Bob Dylan Revisits the Great American Songbook

‘Fallen Angels’ Continues the Singer’s Tin Pan Alley Nostalgia Kick

Thu Jun 16, 2016 | 12:00am

Bob Dylan’s 37th studio album continues in the vein of last year’s Shadows in the Night. Essentially, he gets his Frank Sinatra Tin Pan Alley nostalgia kick on once again (should we blame Rod Stewart for starting this whole baby-boomer-icons-covering-the-Great-American-Songbook shtick?), yet he comes off sounding more like Leon Redbone taking us “Up a Lazy River.” Clearly this is a labor of love on Dylan’s part, and on some of the old pop standards — “Melancholy Mood,” “All the Way,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” with their pleasant Django Reinhardt/Stéphane Grappelli hot club gypsy-jazz arrangements — he shines. But on the whole, it’s hit or miss, and one can’t help but wonder when Bobby Dylan will instill a sense of wonder in all the seekers again.

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